The headlines to the right are real media articles highlighting the dismal state of public knowledge about their country. Do you think you know enough to pass the same test required of naturalized citizens? These surveys show that our citizens are increasingly ignorant of their country.

This is a challenge to all citizens, particularly elected officials, to demonstrate that you understand the basics of American history, civics, and culture. Elected officials scored worse in civic knowledge than the average population in some of the studies. Our very existence as a sovereign nation depends on our knowledge and adherence to our Constitution and government. This website contains questions from the U.S. Citizenship Test that all prospective citizens must take. All Americans should be able to pass this test and hopefully have knowledge that exceeds that required by this short quiz. Reaffirm your citizenship by taking the test and commit to learning everything you should know to be a good voter.

Test your knowledge
Take the test and see just how well you know your country. Then, get the new book, Becoming America. You don't have to pass the test -- just take it and see how well you do. Besides being a great reference for American history, civics, and culture, the book also has the complete Citizenship Test and all the answers. Click on the "Take the Test" tab at the top of the screen, or CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE TEST!

Get a free 8-page Study Guide - great for book groups!
Anyone can download our free 8-page PDF guide. It contains questions from the U.S. Citizenship Test, American history trivia questions and crossword puzzle, and 18 questions to generate discussion about our country. See how well your group can do on the test.
Download the free guide.(requires Adobe Reader)

Take the test!

Just take the test (you don't even have to pass the test) and then get Becoming America to learn about the items you missed. This excellent book of American history, government, and culture has all the information needed for the Citizenship Test. It also includes a complete history timeline, famous speeches, details of how our government works, and essential information about American culture. Heartland Reviews calls it "an amazing compendium of American history and culture...that all Americans and wannebee Americans need to experience." Daniel Lapin calls it "...a vitally useful and rewarding handheld pocket encyclopedia of history’s greatest experiment in freedom."Click here to see a summary description of the important features of Becoming America.

Americans are "alarmingly uninformed" about the USA's history, founding principles and economy--knowledge needed to participate wisely in civic life...Those who have held elected office lack civic knowledge; 43% do not know the Electoral College is a constitutionally mandated assembly that elects the president. (11/21/2008)

The Average score of 28,000 college undergraduates on our civics literacy test was 54%. College-educated adults were particularly ignorant of the Founding and Civil War eras, constitutional themes, and the essential features of a market economy. (2011 Study)

Newsweek gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. Citizenship Test--38 percent failed. The country's future is imperiled by our ignorance. 29 percent couldn't name the vice president. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. (3/20/2011)

Students don't know much about history, and colleges aren't adding enough to their civic literacy, says a report out today. The study from the non-profit Intercollegiate Studies Institute shows that less than half of college seniors knew that Yorktown was the battle that ended the American Revolution or that NATO was formed to resist Soviet expansion. Overall, freshmen averaged 50.4% on a wide-ranging civic literacy test; seniors averaged 54.2%, both failing scores if translated to grades. (9/19/2007)

Politician - Don't have your TestCode?

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To protect your identity and prevent your score from being inadvertently recorded by someone else, we have send TestCodes to the email addresses of each Politician listed on our 'Test Results' page. If your name is on the 'Test Results' page and you have not received your TestCode, please enter a valid name and email address (or web page address to contact you) in the boxes below and press the 'Send Request' button. Once we verify that this is a correct email address for this Politician, we will send you your TestCode which you can use to take the test.

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Political Candidates - Want to record your score?

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To save your test score in our list, you need to be added to our database and be given a TestCode to protect your identity and prevent your score from being inadvertently recorded by someone else. To be entered in our database and sent your code, please enter a valid name, position you are running for, and email address (or web page address to contact you) in the boxes below and press the 'Send Request' button. Once we verify that this is a correct email address for this candidate, we will send you your TestCode which you can use to take the test.